The final event of the TCR Russia series saw LADA Sport Rofnet’s Victor Ladygin claiming an authoritative victory in the first race at the wheel of his LADA Vesta. The championship leader Dmitry Bragin had a difficult race and finished eighth in his Audi RS3 LMS, while his closest rival, Ladygin’s teammate Vladimir Sheshenin, was classified third and reduced his gap to 15 points. Therefore, the title fight will be decided by the final race that will start tomorrow at 14:00 local time.
At the start, Irek Minnakhmetov’s Audi sprinted to take the lead ahead of pole sitter Ladygin. After a brief fight, Ladygin overtook Minnakhmetov on lap 3, while Sheshenin was defending the third position from the assaults of Kim Gavrilov (Lukoil Racing SEAT), and Bragin.
The leading quintet was followed by Lukoil Racing’s teammates Aleksey Dudukalo and Nikolay Karamyshev who were fighting for the sixth place.
On lap 7, Dudukalo made a mistake and dropped at the back of the field; two laps later Bragin was hit by Denis Grigoryev and spun.
In the second part of the race, positions froze. Ladygin had a comfortable leading margin ahead of Minnakhmetov, while Sheshenin secured a precious third position ahead of Gavrilov and Karamyshev.
Bragin salvaged an eighth place that might be crucial for his hope of winning a second consecutive title.
